A Forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and the social issues of our time.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Human Pieces of Garbage and their Enablers

My anger was once again stoked this morning. I watched the above video (in its original Hebrew version) sent to me by a member of the greater Bet Shemesh area. He lives in Sheinfield – an established Dati community just outside Bet Shemesh proper. It borders on ‘Bet’ (the nickname for Ramat Bet Shemesh Bet). Bet is a huge and fast growing ultra Charedi community that consists in large part of Meah Shearim transplants. They have grown to the point where they are contiguous with Sheinfiled. And they are still growing. They also border ‘Aleph’ (the nickname for Ramat Bet Shemesh Alef) that consists mostly of moderate Charedim and Datim.

This video made my blood boil. It is a 13 minute news report about a group of extremist Charedim that on a constant basis terrorizes very young religious girls as they enter and exit their religious all-girls elementray school. These Charedim are a relatively small group of extremist zealots that can only be called human pieces of garbage. Their values and actions are not all that different from Islamist extremists. Only their tactics differ. But not by that much.

These people haven’t killed anyone. Yet. But they have come close a couple of times. But for the grace of God they could have killed more than a few people by now.

They have no use for other Jews, religious or otherwise. They view their version of Judaism as the only legitimate expression of the Torah. What their rabbis tell them to do, they do. They do not distinguish between Halacha and Chumra. It is all the same to them. So if a 7 year old Dati girl who is modest by virtually all Halachic standards does not comply with their version of modesty, she is considered immodest. And worthy of being called a whore. At age 7!

Imagine standing in front of a religious school and yelling ‘whores’ and many other epithets on a constant basis at these little girls. Imagine the fear they instill in them …and the hatred these little girls must learn - hating anyone with a long full beard, Peyos, and Kapote. All while the rest of their community stands idly by - shrugging their collective shoulders and saying, “We don’t like it but there is nothing we can do.”

Meanwhile the human pieces of garbage continue to operate freely without any rabbinic sanction - even though they have even been condemned recently by some of their own rabbinic leaders. No matter. That had no impact on them.

If there is strong condemnation by rabbinic leaders is it fair to place any blame on them? What about the rest of Bet? They too condemn this behavior. Do they share any blame here? For me the answer is very clear. Yes - absolutely they do! Saying there is nothing they can do makes them all enablers.

It is clear to me that the people of Bet who completely reject this behavior - support their goals. They completely agree with them about what they are protesting. They agree with the characterization that young Dati girls do not dress modestly enough. That was made clear by a passersby interviewed in their cars - which very likely reflects the views of most of the people of Bet. They side with them. They just do not approve of their tactics.

There is no interest in a peaceful resolution here. This is a turf war. The building being used by Datim was contested for use by Bet. The government ruled against them and gave it to Datim. That has moved the human garbage into action. These are the kind of people who have moved into Bet. And they are taking over. They want complete control of their environment. And it is a population that keeps on growing.

The word Achdus does not exist in their dictionary. They want a world that consists only of their own customs. They do not want outside influences anywhere near where they live. It matters not a whit that there are other religious Jew living nearby that do not share their values. So what if their neighbors were there first! They are there now and want those other Jews ‘Out of their land!’

Sound familiar?

I am sick of the lot of them. Including the passive ones. All their protestations are worthless without action. The entire community shares culpability with these human pieces of garbage. Rabbis and citizens alike. Words alone are meaningless.

If the vast majority really disapproves of what’s going on there they ought to go and counter-protest. For every one person found harassing those young Dati girls, there ought to be at least 10 of their own counter-protesting. And their rabbinic leaders ought to be there right along with them leading the counter protests.

The good citizens of Sheinfield who are the parents of the young Dati girls are a lot more patient than I am. Those I have spoken with about this are actually Dan L’Kav Zechus to the vast majority of these people. Indeed many citizens of Bet have been quoted as saying they wish that they would just go away.

Maybe so. But that is not good enough. They have to do more than ‘wish’. They have to act. There is no being ‘Dan L’Kaf Zechus when innocent little girls are being called whores just for being Dati.

Until the people of Bet do this and it stops the entire city of Bet should be boycotted. And picketed. Massively! If Bet doesn’t do anything, Aleph should picket their businesses; their Shuls; everything! Nor do I let the Charedi ‘do nothing’ mayor off the hook. He ought to be picketed too by his own Charedi constituency.

The good people of Aleph should be joined and even led by their own Rabbanim - Charedi and Dati alike. The people of Bet need to be isolated and brought to their knees. Of course there can be no violence. No hand should be raised against anyone. But short of that - whatever it takes.

The video is in Hebrew with english subtitles and was first posted in A Mother in Israel. If it doesn’t make you angry - you are not human! And if this isn’t a call for action nothing is.

If one Jew cries out for help and others stand idly by, harm will befall all of us. This is the time for unity against evil.

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelors Degree - majoring in Psychology.